Company: Supermassive Games
Project Overview
Little Hope is the second instalment in The Dark Pictures Anthology, a cinematic horror game that follows a new cast of characters stranded in a haunted, abandoned town. Building on the foundation of Man of Medan, the project’s goal was to further refine the choice and consequence gameplay, delivering another terrifying, branching narrative for players on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
My Role & Responsibilities
Building on my established expertise from the previous title, my role expanded to include a greater focus on process improvement and team development. My responsibilities included:
- Process Refinement: Applying lessons learned from Man of Medan to enhance our testing strategies for the complex multiplayer modes (2 player online co-op and 5 player Movie Night).
- Mentorship and Onboarding: I was personally responsible for training a new QA tester, bringing them up to speed on Supermassive’s projects, tools, and testing methodologies.
- Comprehensive Narrative Testing: I continued to perform deep dive testing into the vast number of story permutations, ensuring every player choice led to a stable and coherent outcome.
- Multi Platform Compliance: I performed rigorous compliance testing to ensure the game met the technical certification requirements for Sony and Microsoft.
The Challenge
While the core technology was familiar, the main challenge on Little Hope was to improve our efficiency and the depth of our test coverage. With a new team member to train and the ongoing need to coordinate with an external QA partner, the focus shifted from learning new systems to optimising our existing ones, all while balancing the immense workload of testing a highly complex narrative game.
Gameplay Highlights
Here is a highlight from the game that I was responsible for testing.
My Approach & Actions
- Enhanced Test Documentation: I updated and refined existing test cases and Confluence guides based on our prior experience, making the testing process more efficient for the entire team.
- Provided Direct Mentorship: I successfully onboarded and mentored the new QA tester, providing them with the guidance and knowledge needed to become a productive member of the team quickly.
- Led by Example: I continued to set the standard for bug discovery, consistently identifying the highest number of defects in the embedded test team through systematic and exploratory testing.
- Collaborated on Test Strategy: I worked with QA leadership to help structure the daily test plans, ensuring a logical balance between functional, performance, compliance, and playthrough testing.
Impact & Results
- My efforts in refining our test documentation and processes led to increased team efficiency and more effective test coverage compared to the previous project.
- My successful onboarding of a new team member helped the team scale effectively to meet the project’s demanding QA needs.
- I was once again recognised as a top performing tester due to my high rate of impactful bug discovery, which was critical for stabilizing the game’s complex branching story.
- By building on my prior experience, I was able to contribute at a higher level, helping to deliver a more polished and stable product for the second entry in the anthology.
Technologies & Tools Used
- Jira (for bug tracking and reporting)
- Microsoft Excel (for test cases and checklists)
- Confluence (for test plans and QA knowledge base)
- Unreal Engine 4
- PlayStation 4, Xbox One, & PC
- Proprietary Supermassive Games debug tools